Dan Brown: The Lost SymbolHis newest novel is full of spiritual truths, historical facts, and information about our nation's forefathers, many of whom were members of the Masons. An exciting story even if there are some gaps in logic that left me shaking my head. He's not the best writer, but he does a lot of research into his subject matter.

Patricia Panahi: God Outside the Box: A Story of Breaking FreeI enjoyed Patricia's book and related to her spiritual quest and exploration of many different paths, religions and beliefs. The daughter of a Muslim father and Catholic mother, Patricia grew up in Iran and later came to the United States, where she began her quest to find God "outside the box". From rebirthing to shamanism,Hinduism to metaphysics, I felt like I was reliving my own spiritual journey. Patricia explores many concepts and ideas in her book, such as synchronicity, reincarnation, and sacred contracts. I was never bored. In fact, I didn't want the book to end. I'm now looking forward to her next book

Deepak Chopra: The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot IgnoreThe Jesus that Chopra presents to us is a teacher of God consciousness and a walking example of one who lived in this state of consciousness. I most resonate with this Jesus and even those who do not see themselves as Christians will be inspired and fed by the teachings of Jesus as they are presented by Chopra.

Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat Pray LoveA delightful memoir about Gilbert's one-year sabbatical following her divorce. She seeks to find pleasure again in Italy, to find God in an ashram in India, and balance in Indonesia learning from an old medicine man. A spiritual journey (and, in the end, a love story) that is fun, humorous and wonderfully told.

Byron Katie: Loving What IsThis book gives you the key to unlocking the door that can lead to a life of inner peace and joy. If everyone in the world would read this book there would be no more war.

Charles Fillmore: Metaphysical Bible DictionaryBased on the teachings of Jesus Christ, this book provides the esoteric meanings of words, names and places. A valuable resource for all Bible students who want to delve into metaphysical interpretation of scripture.

I believe that this is a critical period in the history of this country. We have many challenges with the economy, bailouts, mortgage crisis, unemployment rising and inflation growing. We are also a month away from an important election. This election will determine the direction in which our country goes over the next four years. Because of this, I am asking for prayers for our country--for all the people as they contemplate who will get their vote, both locally and at the national level--and also for the leaders of our country in their decisions that affect us all.

New Thought Ministers (Unity, Religious Science, Divine Science, etc) in the U.S. are calling upon their congregations to pray for the country each Sunday night at 8:00 p.m., in whatever time zone they may live, to create a wave of prayer. You are invited to join us, regardless of what religion you may be, or even if you have no religious afiliation. Prayers, positive affirmations, chants, meditations...whatever you may wish to add to this positive energy that we seek to spread is welcome. We will continue this each Sunday until the election and also the evening of Monday, November 3. Please join us in praying your own prayer or the one below.

"Infinite Spirit, we call upon you--that force of good within us and in which we have our being--to help us remember and feel our oneness with all mankind. We call upon you to lift our consciousness from fear and limitation to peace and prosperity. We call upon the divine wisdom and guidance within us to help us in making our choices in the election. And we place our faith in divine order, knowing that regardless of whom is elected that they, too, will be guided and directed by divine wisdom. We trust that the highest good for our nation is unfolding perfectly. We affirm and know also that our prosperity lies not in the government, stocks and bonds, gold, or any physical manifestation but rather in God. God is our source and we are abundantly supplied as a nation and as individuals. And we now rest in the assurance that all of our needs are now met and will be met and that our dreams are now manifesting as we allow our consciousness to be lifted up. In gratitude and thanksgiving we say Amen."

I've always believed that if people of different religions sat down with one another and talked, we would have far less wars and more friendships. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book, The Faith Club.

After the events of September 11, 2001, three mothers from New York City, all of different faiths, came together with the intention of learning more about each other's religions. And, in the process, they came to learn more about their own.

Ranya, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent started the group after her children began to ask questions about Islam, God and death. In a city that had become increasingly suspicious of Muslims, Ranya, found herself fearful and on the defensive. She was ashamed of the acts of Muslim extremists who used the religion she loved to justify acts of terrorism.

Suzanne, whose childhood grew up as a Catholic, had later found herself more in alignment with the Episcopal Church. As a Christian, she thought that her beliefs and faith were strong. After joining the Faith Club, she began to question the creeds and dogma of her faith and to see that things were not as clear-cut and black and white as she had once thought.

Priscilla, who was Jewish, struggled with her faith, finding that she was sympathic to the plight of the Palestinian refugees in Israel. Fearing that she was the only Jew who felt this way, she hesitated in sharing her feelings with other Jews.

As readers, we are able to eavesdrop on the conversations of these three women as they wrestle with matters of faith, anti-Semitism, prejudice and stereotypes. The questions they ask and the honesty with which they respond is touching. I wonder how many people would be willing to turn their religious beliefs wrong-side-out and look at them from a different perspective.

Over three years, these young mothers not only come to see the beauty and truth in each other's religions but they also pass this respect and appreciation on to their children. A deep friendship grows between them as they support each other through times of personal loss and grief.

I highly recommend this insightful and beautifully written journal of three women in search of answers to the questions that we have all asked. The book has inspired me to include some of the same questions in my group, "Spirituality Explorers" on Gather.com. This group has led to some very interesting discussions on such topics as reincarnation, angels, miracles, and "acts of God". I hope you'll consider joining the group and taking part in the discussions. So far we have 90 members. Here is a link: http://www.exploringspirit.gather.com/

And if you'd like to purchase the book, The Faith Club, you can use the link in my "Recommended Books" section which will take you directly to Amazon.com.

I am encouraged by the results of yesterday's election. It signifies that the American people want change. They turned out in record numbers to demand it by voting for the candidates who campaigned for this change.

I hope that our government leaders will begin to work together to make decisions that are best for the middle class and less fortunate, and not just for the wealthy and large corporations.

It is too easy for the representatives that are voted in to get caught up in the politics and lose sight of the idealism that many went to Washington, DC with. They often start early to focus on getting re-elected by paying off their largest financial supporters by supporting legislation which benefits them.

We have seen unethical behavior at a level greater in our current congressional leadership than ever before. Every night on the news it seems that new scandals are revealed. We trusted these leaders to have the highest integrity and many of them let us down.

I pray that, as Nancy Pelosi promised today, that this new group of leaders will stay true to their pledge to stay honest and ethical. I encourage you to pray for healing in our government, that Democrats and Republicans will put aside politics and their personal agendas and do what is right for this country. We need unity now more than ever. Decisions have to be made that will affect the future of this country and the world. Pray for our leaders to be divinely guided in their decisions.

And lastly, remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." We must all begin to embody that which we want to see in the world. What qualities do you wish to see in your leaders? When you have answered that, then you will know what you need to be.

My husband and I went to see the movie "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams. I am a big fan of Robin's and I really enjoyed this movie. "Man of the Year" is about a comedian that is encouraged by his audience to run for president. I won't give away any key points of the story so as not to spoil it for you.

This movie is not just funny, which you would expect from a movie with Robin Williams. It has some touching scenes as well and a lot of truth to it. And what I really appreciated was how William's character approached his campaign with such honesty--putting aside the party politics of Republicans and Democrats and speaking the truth about what was going on in the country -- not what he thought would get him elected. It felt like a breath of fresh air and I found myself wishing he really was a candidate for office.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of politics. But I do care about my country. I want people in office who will look out for the country and not just pander to the largest contributors to their campaigns. Large corporations have bought off many candidates. The big oil companies have infiltrated Congress and the White House.

I care about the environment and the development of alternative sources of energy. But as long as politicians remain puppets of the oil companies these alternative sources will remain as back burner concerns.

Jesus said that we must "be in this world but not of it." He did not mean that we shouldn't participate in the election process. I believe that Jesus would have encouraged us to participate, but to come from a consciousness of love and understanding. What we see now in the media is candidates taking pot shots at each other and Rush Limbaugh mocking Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's tremors.

I encourage you to become educated about the candidates running in your area. If you don't know anything about the candidates, check your local newspaper. Generally they have done a lot of research on the candidates and will endorse the one that they feel is best qualified.

If you're thinking about not voting--please, don't stay home. We live in a democracy, a country where we have the opportunity to decide who will make decisions for us. If you stay home, your voice will not be heard. And your voice is important.

I just finished watching 60 Minutes. Scott Pelley did a story on the genocide in Darfur. Many Americans seem unaware of the murders that are taking place over in Africa. At least 180,000 people (men, women and children) have been killed and two million are homeless with many living in death camps with nowhere to go.

These people were attacked in their villages. The men were killed and the women gang raped and then killed. Some of the people, mostly women, were able to escape with children they could save. They now are living in horrendous conditions awaiting their fate.

What is their fate? Without the intervention of countries such as the United States and the United Nations, these people will probably be murdered like their family members.

Why has the United States not intervened? Because the dictator responsible for the genocide has been feeding the Bush administration little tidbits of information about al Qaeda. We are looking the other way as a nation as this man, who is very much like Hitler, is going about the business of exterminating these people.

I encourage you to read this story about Scott Pelley's search for a teen-aged boy named Jacob, whose family was killed in a raid on his village and whose school books were found among the ashes of his burned home. After you read it, please say a prayer for Jacob and the other people of Darfur. Say a prayer also for us as a human race that we become more compassionate and caring. These people being slaughtered in Darfur live in a country with no oil, so what goes on there is of little interest to world leaders. But please show our leaders that they do matter to us.

Contact your representatives in Congress and email the Whitehouse and let President Bush know how you feel. Here is the link to the 60 Minutes story.

There is an election coming up. Over the last few days, I've been getting a lot of political emails. I don't mind people sending me emails about issues, but lately the emails have been blatant lies about certain political figures. I've contacted the people who sent these emails and given them resources to find the truth. What is astounding is how many people don't want to know the truth. They prefer to pass along lies in order to manipulate voters.

What bothers me the most is that these people profess to be Christians.

What does it mean to be a good Christian? Is it just about accepting Jesus Christ as your saviour, as some people think? Being a true Christian is about being a follower of Jesus and living your life according to his teachings. This takes courage. It's about how we live our lives on a daily basis--being compassionate, kind, generous, loving and forgiving of others. It's about not judging and pulling the plank out of our own eye before we pull the cinder out of another's.

It's always good to look into our own hearts and see if we are truly walking the path of a Christian (or any other religious tradition to which we may belong.) Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" By the way, there were many false allegations circulated about him during his ministry. Don't believe everything you hear. Check it out for yourself.

(Should you wish to check out the accuracy of emails you may get about political figures, I recommend www.snopes.com . They research all sorts of rumors, legends and topics.)

The pastor of an evangelical church in Minnesota stood before his congregation of 5,000 and said that the church should not be about politics. He lost 1,000 people, but the rest of the congregation stayed. Some breathed a sigh of relief, because they had been thinking the same thing but were too afraid to voice their opinion.

There is a reason for the separation of church and state. I have been disturbed by the growing number of evangelical churches aligning themselves with the Republican party. It was almost as if they believe that G.O.P. stood for "God's Only Party."

In my opinion, the Republican party and the Bush administration have been moving away from the teachings of Jesus in its policies. Since this administration has taken office, the policies have reflected a concern for the wealthy and corporate America, especially the oil companies. They have taken away services for veterans, the poor and middle class. They cut back on environmental safeguards, worked to release national parks for development and oil exploration, and even lied about the effects of global warming. And now they want to do away with the estate tax so that the richest people (top 1%) in America do not have to pay taxes on their inheritance.

When my husband and I were pastors at a church, we talked about spiritual principles but avoided talking about politics. We acknowledged that everyone had a right to support the political candidates and issues that they believed in. Our philosophy was to address issues from a spiritual standpoint and allow people to decide for themselves the course of action they would take. I do not believe that people should be told who to vote for in church.

And I applaud Rev. Gregory Boyd in Maplewood, Minnesota for having the courage to stand up and say what many Christian ministers have been afraid to say for fear of losing conservative congregants. Bravo!

As we celebrate the 4th of July, it is good to look at the blessings that we have in a country which values freedom.

Not long ago I received an email--one of the chain emails complaining about how we have lost the right to pray in our schools, recite the Pledge of Allegiance using "under God", and the right to display the Ten Commandments on public property. People are up in arms saying that as a "Christian country" we must fight this and demand our rights.

Well, first of all let me say that although the majority of people may be Christian in America, we are a country that was formed to protect the rights of all people to belong to any religion that they choose or, no religion, if that is their choice. In other words, we give people the right to be atheists. No one can force us in this country to worship in a particular church or to believe in a specific doctrine.

But to have that freedom means that we must refrain from imposing our beliefs on others and forcing them to pray. That has been the problem with prayer in public schools and even the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. In most cases, prayers that have been said by teachers in public schools have been Christian. To force a young Jewish or Muslim child to pray a Christian prayer is not freedom of religion. It is religious abuse and reverts back to the restrictions that many of our forefathers faced back in their home countries. They were expected to worship according to the beliefs of the king or queen of that country.

Taking public prayer out of public schools does not prevent children from praying. A child can, at any time, say a prayer quietly to herself without bothering anyone. I know I said a few prayers in school when my teachers were passing out a pop quiz.

As far as the Pledge of Allegiance, it was originally written by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy in 1892. It did not include "under God" at that time. It wasn't until 1954, when Eisenhower was President that the Pledge was changed to include "under God." Growing up as a child, I remember memorizing it and repeating it every morning as we began our classes. I didn't think twice about it. But now, even as a minister, I consider the rights of my fellow Americans who have the same rights as I do and who do not wish to pray to a God. And yes, the Pledge could be seen as a prayer.

The Ten Commandments...well, the truth is, there are three versions. Check your Bible--Exodus Chapter 20, Exodus 34:10-29, and Chapter 5 of Deuteronomy. Which one do we post? And is it really necessary to post something that says, "Thou shalt not kill?" Don't we know that already? But maybe we don't since we still go to war and kill and we still utilize the electric chair and sanction the death penalty....

Lately we have heard a great deal about legislation banning the burning of the American flag. This is a very sensitive issue for many people, especially veterans. My father was a veteran of WWII and felt that anyone who burned an American flag ought to be shot. I didn't fight in a war, I'll admit, but I see the flag as a symbol only. And it is a symbol of our freedoms, one of which is the freedom of expression and free speech. We have the right to protest, which some other countries do not allow. Some will express their feelings by burning the flag. What concerns me more is when governments start killing people or locking them up for expressing themselves in this way, which is what happened during the Civil Rights protests. Peaceful protesters were shot and killed. That concerns me more than burning a flag.

Today, consider the rights that you have living in the United States. When you look at all of the other countries in the world, where else would you want to live? As many challenges as we have, we have the greatest freedoms, and that is truly a blessing.

In her new book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," Ann Coulter writes of the Sept. 11 widows: “These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation, and acted as if the terrorist attack only happened to them…I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much...And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy.”

I'm offended and appalled by this woman's comments and attitude. Matt Lauer was also disgusted when he interviewed her on the Today Show. Many believe that she went too far. It wouldn't be the first time. She has been fired from a number of jobs for her unprofessionalism and mean-spiritedness.

Ann is a conservative pundit, a commentator who is paid to be outrageous. She has an undergraduate degree from Cornell and a law degree from the University of Michigan. She has worked as an attorney and served as a congressional aide. Ann is clearly very bright, but in my opinion she lacks common sense, compassion and sensitivity.

Ann describes herself as a Christian and in another interview this month claimed that "Christianity fuels everything I write."

What? Would a Christian make the the comments that she made about the September 11 widows? Many people call themselves Christians, but they are not followers of Christ. They don't live by his teachings.

The saddest thing of all, however, is that Ann Coulter's book was number one in ratings last week. People are spending money to read the sarcastic and hateful comments of a woman who has said that the deceased person she admires most is Senator Joseph McCarthy. In Godless she accuses American liberals of acting in an unpatriotic manner and hating both God and their country. As a progressive (I prefer that to liberal) Christian minister who loves God and my country, I take exception to that. For her to make a comment such as this is as ridiculous as saying that all blondes are dumb, and I know Ann would never make that assertion.

When I was five years old, and in kindergarten, a little boy ran off with my box of crayons--you know the big box, the one with six shades of blue. I punched him in the stomach, I was so mad. I felt justified, too--after all, stealing is wrong (the idea of borrowing wasn't in my mind at that time). Well, I got punched back. The little thief punched me. I was shocked. And unfortunately, he could hit harder so I got the wind knocked out of me. It provided me with a lesson though. Don't punch people because they will punch you back and maybe even harder.

I heard on the news yesterday that the Bush administration is considering military action against Iran. We are upset with Iran's decision to develop nuclear weapons and because of this we are considering bombing them with nuclear weapons. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this? And just as I learned in kindergarten, if you punch someone (or bomb them) they're probably going to strike back.

There is a Wild West mentality in the Bush administration today. Sheriff Bush straps on his six-guns and strolls up the street looking for the "bad guys". Bush sees himself as the great messiah of the world, it seems to me. He's out to prove himself as the strong leader. And yet...here is a man who claims to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, one of the greatest pacifists in the history of the world. A man who told us to "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies."

Jesus knew the truth, the hard lesson that I learned back in kindergarten--violence begets violence.

Back in kindergarten, my teacher sat me down with the little boy who hit me. She made us talk to each other and apologize. The little boy told me that his box of crayons had disappeared and he thought I had taken them. I understood then why he did what he did and I forgave him. We ate our graham crackers together and I shared my crayons with him for the rest of the morning.

I don't have answers to all the world's problems. But kindergarten taught me that violence begets violence and talking solves problems. Perhaps President Bush needs to go back to kindergarten...

I have selected photographs that make me smile and brighten my day. I hope they will do that for you as well. Click on the photos to see an enlarged view. I invite you to visit often and see what I add to my collection.